Forehead Wrinkles

A brief summary of the article written by Dr Riekie Smit in the Summer Issue of the Aesthetic and AntiAging Magazine: found here.

The forehead is one of the most common areas that patients request to be treated. More often than not, there are unrealistic expectations placed on the doctor to take away all of the wrinkles or to make their foreheads completely smooth. The face of the matter is that if you take away all the wrinkles and create a completely smooth forehead, you also take away 100% of the function of the forehead muscle.

So what exactly does the forehead muscle do? Simply put, it lifts up the eyebrows. That said, every face is completely different. Some forehead muscles are strong and some are week, some are asymmetrical and some are symmetrical and finally some serve a purpose (like keeping the eyebrows lifted in people with saggy skin on the upper eyelid) and some have no purpose at all (some males can get away with almost freezing their foreheads – although it is not recommended).

So it is important to keep this all in mind deciding how to treat and how much to treat the forehead wrinkles. so in a nutshell, there are several options:

Botulinum Toxin Type A – This is a good place to start as most of the time people are happy with the amount of wrinkle reduction. If there are still some bothersome wrinkles – a small amount of a thin filler can be used to fill the gaps.

Facial Fillers – the thinnest type of fillers need to be used here – if anything else is used there is the chance that lumps and bumps can develop. Fillers treatments to the forehead and frown must be done with great care – there are complications and patients must be made aware of this. That said, a product like Restylane Vital is great for this area when used correctly.

Peels, Needling, laser and mesotherapy all help to improve the texture of the skin and soften fine lines and wrinkles.

PDO threads increase the collagen content in skin and in so doing help with tightening and fine lines.

APPOINTMENTS

Contact us today if you would like to know more about treating wrinkles or if you would like to schedule a consultation to discuss the various aesthetic treatments we offer. Dr Wade practices in Green Point and Somerset West, Cape Town. To book an appointment please contact: